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Mercenaries
"...already had they spent well-nigh all that they had, both in the sojourn that they had made there and in the great payments that they had made for the fleet. And they said that they could in no wise go thither; and if they should go thither, they would accomplish nothing there, for they had neither victuals nor substance wherewith to sustain themselves." — Robert de Clery, On the Conquest of Constantinople, Ch 16 Mercenary units are special units that are usually dominated by several traits: *Mercenaries generally have a high cost in wealth. A player with a wealth bonus cap may take advantage of this as the complexity required to raise a mercenary army is not that great. *Mercenary units are are generally weaker than normal units. This is due to their high training speed and because they do not have access to better weapons unlike mainstream units! *Some mercenaries in fact are more powerful, and can sometimes be recruited as mainstream units by other factions. The hashishin is a unique unit trainable in the Castle Age by Muslim factions, but does not become available for selected factions well until the Imperial Era *Mercenaries only need the mercenaries technology, available from the Military research line of the library, to be unlocked; however more powerful mercenary units require commerce techs in order to be used. *In Rise of Kings, mercenaries are often based on ethnic minorities that were often subjugated by the major factions, such as the Basques and the Irish. Dark Age mercenaries (Note: these are arranged in terms of cost) Zanji warrior Weaker than other heavy infantry, but is resistant to attrition and trains faster) Camel archer An even weaker version than the Bedouin archer, but still can outrange jinetes, mounted skirmishers and other cavalry archer units within this age. Vasconian foot raider Fast-running light infantry. Still weaker than a swordsman. Kerne Is weaker than its cousin the ceithernn, but is faster trained. Daylamid skirmisher Hits harder than the kerne, but has less hitpoints and the ability to resist attrition. Breton sniper Same range as teulu, but is much weaker even though it trains faster, and yet retains the same amount of damage and rate of fire) Galloglaich heavy infantry Adept at cutting apart cavalry, but is weaker than the Scottish claymore. Varangian Guardsmen Most powerful Dark Age unit. Although it moves slowly, it has the best attack and defence parameters for a Dark Age mercenary unit, and trains as quick as most units. Unfortunately, being the best mercenary around means that it is also the costliest. Castle Age mercenaries Commerce level 3 (Linguistics) is required in order to access Castle Age mercenaries. Iranian heavy cavalry These troops may pose a striking resemblance in stats and appearance to the Muslim lancer unit, but in fact cost only wealth, and are trained faster than normal heavy cavalry. Repeating crossbowman Same like the Chinese 2 foot archer - he has diminished range but a faster attack speed - but with less hitpoints and faster training speed) Armenian They may have the same stats as the Lithuanians of Poland, but don't be fooled: these units may train faster but have far more inferior attack speed than them. Light zuldaneria Rapid-moving 1 light horse unit; basically the Vasconian on 4 legs instead of 2) Norse rider A copy of Denmark's mounted hersir, except that he appears ONLY in the Castle Age and is trained faster and solely for wealth. Norman Adventurer Petty noble cavalry from France. They are as strong as the light zuldaneria (in short, a Dark Age cavalry scout) but have three fundamental differences: they cost a bit of food, have a slighly slower train time for a mercenary, but in turn are useful especially against buildings. Imperial Era mercenaries Imperial Era mercenaries require Commerce level 5 (Guilds) in order to be created. Genoese crossbow equal to 2 crossbow with a higher attack, cannot entrench like pavise crossbows) Freelancer (deals a lot of damage, but has a higher ramp cost. Equivalent to a normal condottiere nevertheless) Bee's Nest Devastating rocket-launching barrow. Rizico bucaneer exact copy of the Rizico, only available in III and with an added wealth ramp cost) Hashishin these guys get everywhere like a fly in a butcher's shop! Arabs and Turks train them from their Nobles' court at II, but you can raise them from your outpost at III!) Battle wagon another version of the War Wagon. Except it is trainable only in III, with a higher wealth cost to match) Magyar artillerist faster to recruit than Orban's cannon, but is slower and fires less frequently. The Artillerist can only be healed if near a holy chapter or a German supply wagon) Royal Atl-atl not very powerful, but is fast on foot in your territory, and can earn loot from dead units: but it's a ranged unit) Balkan stradiot Completely similar in appearance and stats as the Russian vsadniky, these horsemen are light but hard-hitting as raiders, but worthless against the hardened Asian medium cavalry or the heavier cavalry of the Byzantines, Italians and Turks. Yangombi impi not very powerful, but is fast on foot in your territory, and is resistant to attrition) Gajnal mahout retails all features of the culverin mahout, but is still easy prey to archers, marksmen and especially siege weapons. Is powerful and has no other special ramp cost requirements) Swabian landser trains faster than the Landsknecht, but is much slower. Is somewhat equal to the espadachin in stats) Category:Units